STATE COLLEGE, Pa., May 7, 2002 – Penn State’s Chris Wright (State College, Pa.) has been named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week according to conference officials. Wright earned the honor after leading the Nittany Lions to a 3-1 mark vs. Indiana last weekend while hitting .471 overall with two home runs, three doubles and nine RBI.

Joining Wright as Big Ten Co-Player of the Week is Minnesota’s Scott Welch, who posted a .600 batting average while driving in 12 runs and scoring eight while leading the Golden Gophers to a 6-0 record last week.

Wright exploded for two home runs, two doubles and seven RBI in Penn State’s 14-9 win in the series finale on Monday afternoon. The seven RBI were one shy of the Penn State single-game record.?

For the week, Wright registered a slugging percentage of 1.000 while scoring three runs and notched at least one hit in each game of the four-game series at Indiana.

Wright is the second member of the Penn State baseball team to be honored by the conference this season as senior pitcher Justin Nash (Hunt Valley, Md.) was recognized as the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the period ending Feb. 19.

Penn State is currently 21-23 overall and 10-13 in Big Ten play. The Nittany Lions will return to action on Friday, May 10 when they travel to Champaign, Ill., to battle Illinois in the first game of a four-game series beginning at 6:35 p.m. (CT).?

The entire Penn State-Illinois series can be heard via the web by logging on at www.GoPSUsports.com